


And the Lonely Moon Weeps Alone

by velvetnoire



Series: lonely moon, shining sun [1]
Category: Witch's Heart (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Devotion, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-06
Updated: 2018-06-06
Packaged: 2019-05-19 03:20:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14865629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/velvetnoire/pseuds/velvetnoire
Summary: Forever seemed unfathomable. But Noel supposed he didn’t have to understand, because his happiness could never last.





	And the Lonely Moon Weeps Alone

**Side Noel**

_A world of pretty lights and shining mirrors extends for seemingly forever within the kaleidoscope. Noel wouldn’t mind being trapped in such a world, enraptured in the sight for a little longer if it meant being by her side._

_“Ah, I’m glad you like the kaleidoscope! Then it’s yours, Claire.” Noel had declared with such certainty it was almost startling, yet with gentle finality at the decision._

_“You...want me to have your treasure?” Her voice held notes of uncertainty and tremulous joy, touched at being entrusted with something so precious._

  _“You’re special, Claire. If there’s anyone I trust with it, it’s you.”_

_“...Hm...but I’d definitely feel guilty…” She paused for a few moments, gathering the thought into words before her face lit up with excitement. “Oh! I have the perfect solution!”_

_“What is it, Claire?” Curiosity filled him._

_“We just need to stay together forever and ever!”_

_“Forever? That’s such a long time!” Noel had pondered that for a moment, unable to grasp such a concept but then concluding with a sincere, “But I wouldn’t mind spending it with you!”_

_“Forever and ever!” Claire echoed with a laugh at the prospect, filled with a sense of giddiness._

_“Then it’s a promise!”_

_Forever seemed unfathomable. But Noel supposed he didn’t have to understand, because his happiness could never last._

 

**Side Claire**

The phosphorescent sea shifts in kaleidoscopic flux, ethereal as the coruscation of stars undimming. Bobbing gently, soft and luminous constellations sway, scattered through its calm waters like threads of gossamer. Cradled in a crescent craft, it’s just the shape of a smile burdened with the weight of sorrow - the kind Noel often has, solemn and soft.

The scent of sugar drifts through the air: sharp-sweet peppermint and cinnamon spice, carried on a gentle breeze. Voices drift into her ears, reassuring her that all was well. It was a sensation like returning to a home she had never known, yet felt the familiarity all the same. Falling asleep to the white noise of hushed laughter and the susurrus of the waves wouldn’t be too bad.

But the moon hanging in the sky seemed so dazzling to her eyes, yet so very alone. How sad, she thought to herself. She extended a hand and she thought she felt another grasp hers, clutching her close.

Ah, that was right. The moon reminded her of Noel: quiet, unassuming and watching from afar, carrying the weight of the world all on its own.

 

**Side Noel (to Claire)**

Do you know how much I’ve yearned for this? Even if those moments were as fleeting as flowers in spring - every second of these sunlit memories I hold dear. If only you knew…If only you knew how much I loved you. If only you knew as my hand reached for yours how many times I’d seen you die.

Like the lonely moon, all I can ever do is watch over you until the stars paint the sky. A happy ending seems more and more like a mirage - the reflection of a waning crescent upon the water I yearn to reach. But my heart is far more constant than the moon - full and brimming with emotion I cannot voice, for all you’d do is forget once more. But that’s alright. No matter how many times it takes...even if I break.

If this were a dream, I wouldn’t mind sleeping forever.

Watching your smile beam in delight, listening to your voice ecstatic once more...what a painful feeling it is. I want to memorize every detail, but it’s never enough. How greedy I am, searching for an ideal ending. How many times have my actions been all in vain? Is fate so cruel to bring us together, only for us to part once more?

I remember. This laughter - we’ve shared it together so many times. In the exhilaration of the chase in tag and the relief of bated breaths released in hide and seek. I had thought I lost you, long ago. But you came back, just the same as before. Where have you been? I wanted to ask you, but I knew you wouldn’t have known the answer - not then, and even now.

That’s alright. Because now that I’ve found you again - I want to take hold of your hand and never let you go.

You told me your wish of being a bride so earnestly, flush with even the thought. My heart trembled at even the prospect - your hand, entwined in mine.

Exchanging vows sealed with a tender kiss, rings of promise binding us forever. Death shall never do us part, because I cannot bear a world without you. I’ll rewind the clock once more, for your sake and mine.

Being a bride...that’s a wish you could fulfill all on your own. Without the aid of Witch’s Heart, I wish I could free you of that burden.

Someday, I’d like to see that dream come to life. 

I can never be your prince, Claire - with a kiss, I can only bid to sweet dreams rather than awakening you from a magic spell. In sleep, the creases of your frown are smoothed away, shrouded in the warmth of unknowing bliss. It’s okay if you’ve forgotten me, Claire. If it hurts you - you don’t have to remember. I’ll carry these memories for both of us.

Let’s eat strawberry shortcake almost as sweet as your smile, gazing at the stars together just one more time.

_Good night, Claire.  May your dreams bring you happiness._

 

-

 

The seeds of doubt are sown in the absence of memory, confusion threaded through with creeping suspicion - Ashe couldn’t have woken me up at noon if I hadn’t even been in my room. 

Dread dawns upon me, sending chills down my spine and sending my heart racing at the very prospect. No, no, no...he couldn’t be alive...right?

 

-

 

**Side Ashe**

People say you tend to take pictures of things you don't want to lose. As a tether to the past, perhaps, or even a memento of times long gone: something that kindles a spark of bittersweet nostalgia, warming the hollows of what had been his heart. But without his family, happiness was beyond reach. What use was laughter without anyone to share it with? What use were bedtime stories without anyone to tell with grandiose theatrics from the self-proclaimed best big brother in all the land?

Worthless.

Worthless.

Worthless. Whatever it took, whatever the means - he would bring the whole world down for their sake.

Threaded through his hair was a fragment of the person he had once been, presented to him with all the joy his beaming little sister could contain. He beamed at his little sister - so small and brilliant and so very precious. He wanted to sear that memory into his vision, because those halcyon days had long fled; in their wake there was nothing but the imminent rain. How the sky wept that day, washing away the crimson stains.

Now, there here was little need for a memento. They would meet again, wouldn’t they? According to ancient belief, his hair was something his parents had given him. A gift, they said, that should be left unharmed. He cared little for it as he took the blade to his braid, an impromptu trim for the sake of covering his tracks dyed sanguine.

Haha. But was it really for his family anymore? Would it really be their son they saw, soaked in blood not his own? He wondered if they would they turn away in disgust at the murderer with blade in hand and eyes wide and bloodshot from restless nights of endless research, even if it was all for their sake. Did it matter? Had everything he had done and sacrificed gone to waste? Did anything matter anymore? His mother and father and sister were gone from this world, but so was Claire - someone who had shown him kindness he didn’t deserve. But it was okay.

He could bring her back, right? With one wish, everything could go back to those happy days. With one wish, everything could be okay.

He spoke his wish like a prayer, reverent with hope - _please,_ he begged, falling to his knees, _please._ He said it again. And again and again and  just once more, his hoarse desperation crescendoing.

He cried out, but there was no answer to his pleas. And who would comfort him? Murderer, they’d brand him, the label searing his skin. Traitor. He listened, all in vain.

For all he could hear was the ringing echo of a man who had lost everything dear.

 

**Side Noel**

The list of things that could stop him now were steadily dwindling. If it had physical form, it would be crumpled in his clenched fists, nails biting into skin bathed in moonlight.

The moon’s gossamer light, fine as silken thread, ensnares him in its silver embrace. Its thrall draws him from the shattered window and into the waking world in the same way the spider lures a fly. But no, _he_ is the spider crouching among shadows, lying in wait for prey to take the enticing bait. Unprovoked, he is placid - _tranquil,_ even - until the moment comes to strike in long-awaited retribution, made all the sweeter by eyes wide with surprise.

Noel’s beyond placation and pretty words, apologies spun on a half-hearted whim. Ah, how this feeling pulsing through his veins and roars like a savage beast, leaving him coiled tight with tension. The shuddering shadows writhe in ill-contained anticipation, but he bids them _no, not yet_ with a finger to his lips. They howl like starving wolves to the mad-bright moon, ripe with lunacy. Mad, are they? 

Perhaps this madness is a contagious thing, something that has crept into the abyss within him and made its home into his very bones. Maybe it is the insanity of doing it again and again and again is what has worn at him: he is worn ragged, patched as a court jester dancing to another’s tune; after all, he had always been a stubborn fool.

 

**_Side Noel (to Ashe)_ **

It may take more than mere moments - one, two, three - to gather the shards of my smile, brittle as glass, plastered unnaturally wide: grinning and grinning endlessly, it must be a sight as sinister as the gleam of a dagger in the dim.

Ah, Ashe. Do forgive me, because I cannot pay the same sentiment towards you; however: do not think me lenient. At the very least, consider me polite. But I am afraid that I must be blunt, this time around. Yes - I shall not beat about the bush. So, let’s not skirt about the subject. Let’s cut right to the heart of it, shall we? Let me ask you this:

Do you think me merciful?

It’s been so many times, you and I, that the memories blend together in an indistinct haze. We had a camaraderie almost jovial, really, beyond our respective motives hidden behind smiles we both knew were false. Even so - I think we could have been good friends, you and I. Your gaze was distant that night, and I don’t think it was me you were seeing; you were gazing into the distance with something like remorse you attempted to drown in intoxication: flush with an infusion of bravado, transfused through your veins.

You poured me Luvan wine and the glass gleamed in the dim light but it kept spilling, staining such a lovely blue. Ah, my favorite color: never has it not brought me happiness at the sight, vivid as a rose in bloom but you kept pouring and pouring until it has stained the floorboard so  that the jagged shards have dug into the tender petals, again and again and again.

What would Sirius say, hm? Ah, yes: nothing, because your hands are stained with his blood, severing his thread like the fates snipping yarn, _snick!_ And then there was nothing but a terrible silence and you resounding laughter: but no, there was no mirth in it. Does it haunt you: afterimages seeking you in the midst of night, assailing you with guilt? Or did that remorse die with you long ago with the deaths of all you held dear? Perhaps it was the moment you gazed upon the knife and the eyes of a murderer gazed back into yours, a reflection soaked in sanguine.

There is no mercy left for me to spare. Had you any for Claire? Ah, dear Claire: who had bought your lies dipped in sweet sugar, not a grain of salt; she had been wholeheartedly shocked at even the prospect of betrayal from you. Oh, Claire. I cradled her in my arms, searching for her warmth, her voice - how I loved to hear her talk. But now all is a ringing silence piercing through my static hearing, so terribly empty and aching. The bitterness stings on my tongue - ah, we had been so close, she and I. But of course: fate has destined for me to never be her prince.

The talismans upon her bed are a brilliant blue like her eyes - eternal and boundless as the sky. I’m sorry they couldn’t protect her. I’m so sorry. Ahh, it hurts - but surely not as much as Claire, painted a terrible crimson. No, no, no - it doesn’t suit her at all. _Please...rest well, Claire. I hope no pain can reach you wherever you are._

Thought is near incoherent in this form: a mass of more primal instinct than rational reasoning. In spite of it all, I have on purpose that is clearer than crystal.

Ah, Ashe. A swift end is more than you deserve. Please - don’t go quietly.

An eye for an eye makes the world go blind: but now, I am blinded by this feeling that consumes me. Ah, Claire. I’d tear down the heavens for you just for your smile, stars smoking in my palms. I’d crown you in constellations because you are my daylight star.

Claire, you are my shining sun: and I could never forgive someone who has cast the sky in eternal rain.

  
  



End file.
